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Twitch Statistics: MOBA Games Dominates, Counter Strike Bigger than COD

1

1st Course

Member
Twitch growth

Founded in 2011, Twitch is rapidly becoming one of the more important marketing channels in the video game industry. The site draws roughly 60 million fans every month to watch on-demand and live streams of other users' gaming exploits. As such, the site now gobbles up more primetime internet traffic in the U.S. than any other website except Netflix and YouTube. And last September, its successes cemented further when Amazon acquired it for $970 million, representing the retail giant's asserted leap into the gaming arena.
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Top games by view volume

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Although a quick glance at the top of the Twitch rankings shows how much of the share of view volume is driven by games with strong competitive multiplayer and eSports communities, many titles in the top 20 are titles that offer other types of gaming experiences. For example, the top 20 includes games where the primary experience is driven by building and sharing (Minecraft), MMORPG gameplay (World of Warcraft, DayZ, RuneScape), single-player open world experiences (Grand Theft Auto V), difficult arcade gameplay (The Binding of Isaac), and co-op loot collection (Destiny). In addition, Twitch initially was a content site for mostly PC play, but many of the top 20 games, including Call of Duty: AW, FIFA 15, Destiny, and Ultra Street Fighter IV are primarily console experiences, with several being console exclusives.
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More in the article

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-01-16-twitch-rankings-5-key-takeaways-for-the-industry
 
T

tcrunch

Member
For some reason your images don't show up right to me? I quote and I can't even get the urls you are using.

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N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
I've always been kind of surprised that Smite took off and got an audience. It feels kind of rare for that type of game, especially given how their other titles went.
 
K

Kysen

Member
I tried watching LoL and holy shit is that boring, I don't get that game at all. Another one that baffles me is Fifa. Where is the fun watching someone opening card packs? Blizzard seems to produce nothing but gold with their titles staying at the top.

I did watch the CS tournament yesterday and damn that game is still hype years after I quit playing it religiously. The stuff those guys pull off in a round is nuts.
 
A

Ambient80

Member
Nirolak said:
I've always been kind of surprised that Smite took off and got an audience. It feels kind of rare for that type of game, especially given how their other titles went.
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The ad that plays on Twitch every so often about a tournament for that game is so irritating that I refuse to watch any streams for it! Lol. Two commentators just screaming almost constantly.
 
J

JORMBO

Darkness no more
I don't know anything about CSgo. On Twitch last week there was a guy opening guns from the store (or whatever they do) and he had 60k people watching. I watched for a minute or two just to see why so many people were there and am still confused.
 
T

Tenebrous

Member
Darkness said:
I don't know anything about CSgo. On Twitch last week there was a guy opening guns from the store (or whatever they do) and he had 60k people watching. I watched for a minute or two just to see why so many people were there and am still confused.
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There's crates with randomized loot inside that you can pay to unlock for $2 or so a pop. You can find things in the crates worth several hundred dollars, so it's kinda interesting to see what someone gets after spending $200 on keys to unlock crates.
 
D

danmaku

Member
Kysen said:
I tried watching LoL and holy shit is that boring, I don't get that game at all. Another one that baffles me is Fifa. Where is the fun watching someone opening card packs? Blizzard seems to produce nothing but gold with their titles staying at the top.

I did watch the CS tournament yesterday and damn that game is still hype years after I quit playing it religiously. The stuff those guys pull off in a round is nuts.
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That's the point. If you play the game, you know what's going on and you're more likely to enjoy a tournament. And there a TON of people playing LoL.
 
M

Mabufu

Banned
Kysen said:
I tried watching LoL and holy shit is that boring, I don't get that game at all. Another one that baffles me is Fifa. Where is the fun watching someone opening card packs? Blizzard seems to produce nothing but gold with their titles staying at the top.

I did watch the CS tournament yesterday and damn that game is still hype years after I quit playing it religiously. The stuff those guys pull off in a round is nuts.
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Football is just people chasing a ball. Where's the fun?
You need actually to understand what's going on, how the game works, and how the players try to accomplish their goals. Watching for the sake of watching is nosense.
 
mr stroke

mr stroke

Member
Nirolak said:
I've always been kind of surprised that Smite took off and got an audience. It feels kind of rare for that type of game, especially given how their other titles went.
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It's the perfect anti MOBA for people who don't really like MOBAs
And IMO much more fun to watch since its action based
 
J

JustinBB7

Member
Man what happened to Starcraft 2.

I don't play it myself but it having only a 2% share these days is so weird. Is it that dead? Or is the MOBA combo + CS:GO just too much for them to overcome.
 
K

Kysen

Member
Mabufu said:
Football is just people chasing a ball. Where's the fun?
You need actually to understand what's going on, how the game works, and how the players try to accomplish their goals. Watching for the sake of watching is nosense.
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That doesn't explain why I love watching SF, despite knowing nothing about the game.
 
K

Kathian

Banned
Tenebrous said:
PC is more suited for watching Twitch, so I guess it kinda makes sense that PC folk would look for the things they personally indulge in.
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This. Dual monitor set ups are also increasingly the norm; computers are easily capable of them and software is quite good at it.

Twitch on TV is for specific reasons and theres not enough of a community behind console based streaming to create those reasons.
 
D

DarkoMaledictus

Tier Whore
Mabufu said:
Football is just people chasing a ball. Where's the fun?
You need actually to understand what's going on, how the game works, and how the players try to accomplish their goals. Watching for the sake of watching is nosense.
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To be fair I actually think that of football... soccer, baseball, basketball. Love playing those games (in real life), hate watching!
 
E

Ember Spirit

Banned
JustinBB7 said:
Man what happened to Starcraft 2.

I don't play it myself but it having only a 2% share these days is so weird. Is it that dead? Or is the MOBA combo + CS:GO just too much for them to overcome.
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Nobody really watches casual starcraft streams, so I guess that makes the average low. During the big tournaments they can pull in a lot of viewers, but it's nothing like it used to be. Sucks, because SC was my first exposure to esports.

Kysen said:
That doesn't explain why I love watching SF, despite knowing nothing about the game.
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MOBAs have a lot of things you need to learn before they can be entertaining enough to watch. I personally find LoL boring compared to DOTA, but it definitely has it's hype moments, and I still don't get a lot of things that go on in the game.
 
N

NaDannMaGoGo

Member
Damn Starcraft 2 has fallen in the last couple years...

Wonder if Legacy of the Void will grant some major reinvigoration but I expect it'll be temporarily. Even if Blizzard is going to do an absolutely amazing job on Legacy of the Void I can't see an RTS to compete with the MOBA market.

That said, if they actually had some kind of cosmetics/crate/item market system like all the top players they may acquire a steady enough userbase at least. Without those kinds of attraction however, it'll no doubt fall short to those who have them.
 
A

antitrop

Member
Counter-Strike's continued success tickles me real pink. I started playing it in 2000 and I still think it's the best multiplayer first-person shooter ever made.
 
M

Mifec

Member
JustinBB7 said:
Man what happened to Starcraft 2.

I don't play it myself but it having only a 2% share these days is so weird. Is it that dead? Or is the MOBA combo + CS:GO just too much for them to overcome.
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Blizzard stopped caring about it and people stopped playing, now unless Destiny is streaming no one watches it.

NaDannMaGoGo said:
Damn Starcraft 2 has fallen in the last couple years...

Wonder if Legacy of the Void will grant some major reinvigoration but I expect it'll be temporarily. Even if Blizzard is going to do an absolutely amazing job on Legacy of the Void I can't see an RTS to compete with the MOBA market.

That said, if they actually had some kind of cosmetics/crate/item market system like all the top players they may acquire a steady enough userbase at least. Without those kinds of attraction however, it'll no doubt fall short to those who have them.
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Yeah it needs skins and stuff this is a really great write up about it

http://blog.destiny.gg/starcraft-2-legacy-into-the-void/
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Tenebrous said:
PC is more suited for watching Twitch, so I guess it kinda makes sense that PC folk would look for the things they personally indulge in.
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this would change if the PS4, PS3 and 360 got proper Twitch apps like the XOne has. Even if the PS3 and 360 apps don't support streaming like the XOne does, just having the app and being able to watch and interact with streams of any games would be pretty big.

If the PS4 version were to be brought to parity with the XOne version, that would also be really big. The PS4 app is shit in comparison.

Kysen said:
I tried watching LoL and holy shit is that boring, I don't get that game at all. Another one that baffles me is Fifa. Where is the fun watching someone opening card packs? Blizzard seems to produce nothing but gold with their titles staying at the top.
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Nothing is fun to watch if you don't understand what the fuck is doing on and why it's happening.

You have to play MOBAs to understand what's happening. It can take months (literally) to get a decent understanding of what's going on so as to make viewing enjoyable and level of competitive (professional) play appreciable. Otherwise, it just looks like a mindfuck of colors and chaos.
 
K

Kotetsu534

Member
Hearthstone was keeping up with League around the time of G&G's release. Obviously it's fallen off a long way from then, but what a success story for Blizzard. From more or less nowhere to being a legitimate contender for #2 on Twitch in one year suggests they're very much onto something with Hearthstone's design.

I'd also note that it's often played by some of the big League streamers between games so it gets free marketing by them.
 
T

Tenebrous

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
this would change if the PS4, PS3 and 360 got proper Twitch apps like the XOne has. Even if the PS3 and 360 apps don't support streaming like the XOne does, just having the app and being able to watch and interact with streams of any games would be pretty big.

If the PS4 version were to be brought to parity with the XOne version, that would also be really big. The PS4 app is shit in comparison.
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Does the Xbox One app allow you to watch someone and game at the same time?
 
K

K.Sabot

Member
Bugs Bunny said:
Agree with the person that said LoL is an awful spectator game. So boring to watch even when you understand the game.
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I fall on the same side of the coin, played for 2 years and I still can't stand to watch it.

I could watch a fighting game or CS:GO all day, could even watch dota 2's odd tournament every now and then (but never a personal stream).
 
M

Mifec

Member
Kotetsu534 said:
Hearthstone was keeping up with League around the time of G&G's release. Obviously it's fallen off a long way from then, but what a success story for Blizzard. From more or less nowhere to being a legitimate contender for #2 on Twitch in one year suggests they're very much onto something with Hearthstone's design.

I'd also note that it's often played by some of the big League streamers between games so it gets free marketing by them.
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The projected earnings told us that a while back.

Bugs Bunny said:
Agree with the person that said LoL is an awful spectator game. So boring to watch even when you understand the game.
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It's worse if you understand the game on a high level because then you realize that the casters have no fucking clue what they are talking about 90% of the time and the other 10% is them hyping a situation up for no reason.
 
X

Xater

Member
How many of those Twitch channels with CS:GO are just case openings?

NaDannMaGoGo said:
Damn Starcraft 2 has fallen in the last couple years...

Wonder if Legacy of the Void will grant some major reinvigoration but I expect it'll be temporarily. Even if Blizzard is going to do an absolutely amazing job on Legacy of the Void I can't see an RTS to compete with the MOBA market.

That said, if they actually had some kind of cosmetics/crate/item market system like all the top players they may acquire a steady enough userbase at least. Without those kinds of attraction however, it'll no doubt fall short to those who have them.
Click to expand...

MOBAs have been big for a while now. Heart of the Swarm couldn't make a lasting impact and neither will Legacy of the Void.
 
S

spekkeh

Banned
Makes sense. I reckon most Twitch watchers have more time than money (otherwise you'd be playing all those games, it's effectively this generations' going to the arcade or videostore to watch other people play), which strongly intersects with the F2P demographic.
 
Lactose_Intolerant

Lactose_Intolerant

Member
spekkeh said:
Makes sense. I reckon most Twitch watchers have more time than money (otherwise you'd be playing all those games, it's effectively this generations' going to the arcade or videostore to watch other people play), which strongly intersects with the F2P demographic.
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I watch twitch while I work. Though I agree with what you said.
 
B

Broadbandito

Member
Tworak said:
pc much much much more popular than consoles. that's hardly surprising.


lol
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Pretty much everyone that watched competitive COD had to move to mlg.tv to watch it since all the pros have to stream on mlg.tv now. The optic gaming team (especially nadeshot) still pull a SHIT TON of viewers every time he's on
 
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